winter festivities: tale of a beauty queen
by kennie013
Summary: after a difficult case, an old friend of peters calls in help to selve a confusing and horrifing case
1. the beginning

**[****Winter festivities****]**

Chapter 1

It's a cold, wet winter's day. As the rain pours she shivers. Suddenly, a small dog laps at her leg. Her dog begins to whine and scratch at the floor in distress. And she knew why!

Her vision became blurry so she turns her attention away from the window and quickly scans then room around her.

The first thing her eyes reveal to her is the thick oak door which is slightly open. She could just see the Christmas wreath her and her daughter made the day before. Next were the burgundy curtains spotted with cream circles? A large cream orchid sat in a decorative bowl on the oversized window sill giving the room a tropical feel. On the adjacent wall stood a tall hardwood book shelf, her favourite books filled it along with photographs taken throughout the last 20 years. A Laura Ashley couch sat around a wooden coffee table with a thick dark read one opposite it. With finally a large flat screen TV to finish off the room.

The whole room was immaculate, it was impeccably clean! She smiled knowing this would be the way she remember it.

"Mom!" she hears her baby girl call through the door, she has just got in from school. The voice is comforting, it's reassuring. They are still as close as they have always been. A flood of pain overcomes her comfort, "she will never get over this" the shivering lady thought. Once this is done she will be shattered!

"Can you help me with some music homework mom?" the school girl- whose name is Jessie- asked from another room. As she asks her question, though, she moves through the house into the living room where her mother is. As Jessie moves through the door into the amazingly tidy room she is paralyzed. Above her mother stood a man in black jeans and a red hoodie, he is holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. Her mother is tied to a wooden kitchen chair with two high school tie and she has a tea town around her mouth.

There is one obvious wound to her mother's arm but it does not look fatal. Yet! There are small cuts on her face and neck from when she struggled presumably. But the most horrible thing for Jessie at that point was not what had happened to her mother, but who it was.

The figure suddenly turned round to face Jessie and spoke to her, "hello Jessica my darling, sorry about this". Before the terrified girl could speak, scream or run, the man raised his arm and shot a bullet aimed just above her head. At lightning speed a large bullet flew through the house and hit Jessie's scull. As soon as she hit the floor, she was dead. The man looked back at the lady tied to the chair and slashed her throat. Then he thought...

What can i do next? He moves over to the book case and lifts up an old photograph of Jessie, and her parents at the beach. They were happy than. It disgusted him.

"I know what to do!" he said with a plotting, devil, and evil smile. He laughed at what he had dined as he got to work with the second part of his evening.


	2. the morgue

**Yo, here's chapter 2. It's a bit cheesy at the end but it will get better i promise! Please comment and suggest XD**

**Kennie013 **

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD :) :) :) :)**

[The morgue]

Clip, Clop, Clip, Clop... "Do you have to wear those shoes Raides?"

"Yes, and stop calling me that!"

"Sorry, we have another one"

"One what?" by his point Dr. Raider was getting bored of the policeman's well-rounded talking. He was always like this at the moment, but that being said, she knew exactly what he meant. For 3 weeks now, every Friday another mother and daughter was murdered. So far the local PD had no connections between the victims and I had no cause of death for the mothers. They had been cut on their arms and their faces and one clean cut through their neck, but none of their wounds, not even put together, could kill them...so what did?

"Right, let's see what the bastards done now!" rader said in a cold, hatful voice. She hated the killer for more reasons than you would think. They all wanted to catch him!

Dr. Rader and the young police officer walked into the morgue and stood next to a gurney decorated with a young girl's body. The girl was of a slim build but she had huge hips, she had muscular arms and thighs and she was very tall. All of the girls that had been killed were stunningly beautiful, they all were covered in make-up as well, but this girl was different, she was naturally pretty- the others where bordering on anorexic but not this girl- she was thin but not too thin, she had on make-up, but not too much make-up, the only thing that made her look horrific was the massive bullet wound at the bottom of her neck.

"The bullet killed her, there are no other...wait!" Raider looked over the body, this was different! There was light bruising on her knees all the way up to her belly button. On the other bodies the killer had carved foreign words, there was no words, no symbols, but she was raped. She must have been special to the killer? Or maybe he didn't have any words left? This was weird!

"Ok, i think we need some help"

"Help? From who? The feds?"

"Not the feds, not yet, there was a guy i used to go to school with, he works in philli now, and he is a damn good cop, no offence, but apparently the new path there is good two and i can't get heads or tails of this case! What do you think?"

"Sure raider, Dr. Raider, what's the guy's name?"

"Peter Dunlop and the paths called Megan Hunt"

"I'll get right on it"

"Thanks"

"I really hope they can get this case!"

With that they left, raider to think about what the hell was going on in this case, and the detective to call Peter Dunlop.

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD :) :) :) :)**

**End of chapter 2, please comment!**

**Kennie013**


	3. from philadelphia

**Bring on Peter and Hunt. Hope you like it XD**

**Kennie013**

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD :) :) :) :) **

[From Philadelphia]

"Yo"

"Yo?"

"We have had our first request"

"What?" Megan looked up at the man standing on the other side of the table with total confusion.

"A lady i knew in high school works down in New York, they have a dead end case with 6 bodies. She called asking if we would go down and help them with they're case, see if we could dig something up for them. What do you think?"

"A trip to New York? Sure"

"Wow that was easy" peter smiles at her, than pulls out a manila case file and hands it to her. Inside the folder were 3 pathologist reports of three middle aged women.

"Whoa, Botox or what!"

"Hmm?"

"The ladies have all had serious Botox!"

"Kate said that the wounds they sustained weren't fatal so there is no clear C.O.D and the tox shoes nothing"

"Kate?"

"Her names Katherine Raider"

"Yeah, I've heard of her, she's meant to be a good ME, this must be a big case!"

"So you gonna come to New York with me?"

"Ah yeah!"

"Good, I'll meet you outside your place at 9 to-morrow, please be ready, i don't fancy missing the flight!"

"Have i ever kept you waiting?"

"Umm... see you later"

"Ha, byee"

Peter turned and left, closing the glass door behind him, leaving Megan to her thoughts. She started to flick through the first 2 reports, starting with the daughter –Jesse-and moved through the files taking in every detail ready for seeing the bodies in less than 24 hours.

Peter got home with the biggest smile on his face; he hadn't seen Katherine in years. They used to sit next to each other in science al through high school, at one point he thought he might have fancied her. He remembered how she could learn things so quickly; her parents were doctors so when it came to Biology she even shocked the teacher due to how much she knew. All the other kids used to think she was a creep for wanting to be a pathologist for both humans and plants, he still couldn't see why most of the kids didn't like her. Thinking about it now, sitting on the couch with a can of beer, Katherine kind of reminds him of a young Megan. They are both tough, independent, extremely smart women. He knew he was going to like this trip!

**O.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD :) :) :) :) **

**Chapter 3 taddaa! Hope you like it, please comment and subscribe, and find me on twitter mintcake2012**

**Kennie013 **


	4. To New York

**Here is chapter 4, I hope you like it, please comment!**

**Kennie013**

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

[To New York]

It had been a REALLY long day! Their joining flight from Philadelphia had been cancelled so they had to drive. At this point all Peter could think about was how much the rental car bill would be when we got it back to the airport. That and what might happen in New York. Most of the journey had been spent in silence, Megan had spent the drive to the air port, the plane ride and from the airport to the middle of no-where - it felt like - reading science magazines, reading the case file, texting Lacey and reading a book about a French queen. Peter, he just drove and drove listening to the droning sound of the radio. Suddenly something broke the silence.

"You want me to drive for a little while?" Megan's voice echoed trough the car.

"Sure, I'll pull over at the next gas station"

"Thanks, you look so bored!"

"Well der! I have done nothing all day apart from listening to walking on sunshine... and it's not even sunny!"

"Tut tut looks like rain!" Peter looked at Megan with a face spilling with confusion _tut tut looks like rain_ he thought, has Megan spontaneously turned into a weather reporter?

"It's from winnie the pooh peter!"

"Oh right... I don't think I ever saw that?"

"What! You have never seen Winnie the pooh! You poor thing!" they both giggles as peter pulled into the gas station.

"I'll fill up; you can move your stuff"

"Got cha" Megan said as she flung open her door and through the magazines onto the back seat.

The gas station stunk of every car smell you could imagine: Gasoline, Diesel, Wind screen cleaner, car paint, everything! There was no-one around that she could ask where they were. _What was that? _She could hear the sound of lighters and smell cigarette like smoke, behind a large black bill bored were 4 teenagers, 3 boys and a skinny girl. They were wearing all black and had studded and chained jewellery covering most of their bodies. The girl had on massive thick leather studded boots and ripped black jeans. The boys had on band hoodies covering their faces and black or blood red skinny jeans. They looked scary for someone whose child hadn't gone through the thrash metal faze. Suddenly the girl looked up at Megan. "You gonna quit staring lady?" the girl snapped

"Oh sorry, I was just going to ask where I was, I'm trying to get to New York. Can you help me kid?"

One of the boys finally answered here while he lit a non-conventional looking cigarette. "bout 50 minutes at 40 till a junction, than left, keep going that way, that should get cha pretty close lady." The kids than all turned together and carried on smoking. "Thanks kids" Megan said as she walked back to the rental car. She spotted Peter leaning against the bonnet of the car with his arms folded looking at her. "You know them?"

"No, I was just asking how far I had to go"

"There is such thing as a map!"

"Yeah well... let's go" Megan walked over to the drivers' door and swung it open so she could slide into the seat. "Were you ever like that Megan?" Peter inquired as he slung himself tiredly into the adjacent seat to her. "What makes you think I was?" the car than began to rumble and they pulled out of the lonely gas station and headed off to the junction the gothic kid told her about. "So where you?"

"Maybe" Megan said sheepishly,

"You were! AWWW little Dr. Hunt was an emo!"

"I was not! I just liked loud music and dressing a little bit like that!"

"Sure" Peter through her a smile and carried on reading the case file Katherine had faxed him.

Suddenly a huge noise broke his concentration. The engine made a huge noise and then creaked. The bonnet door flew open and the car skidded over the road as Megan tried to slow it down. The car finally drake to a halt in a large block of trees surrounding a telephone pole. Smoke was pouring out of the car that was now wrapped around the post next to the road. They both groaned as the air bags pushed against their chests.

"Are you ok Megan?"

"It wasn't me!"

"I know" peter said simply as he tried to get out of the car. He pushed at the door a few times and it creaked open just enough for him to get out, he then ran to the other side and yanked at the driver's door. It opened with a clank and through peter back into the tree behind him. He then peered into the car to see Megan, her arms were flopped by her side and there was a dig cut along the top if her head, and she was bleeding a lot! "Doesn't look like we're going to get to the morgue at all today does it" she winced with a smile, she was ok but the only problem was, how is Peter going to get her out of there?

"Right hold still, I'm gonna pull you out!"

"Fine, just don't drop me Mr. Dunlop!"

"I'll try not to" with his last comment Megan laughed and reached out to grab peter. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the car enough to loop his stronger arm around her waist and pull her out of the dying car. "Gee you're strong!" Megan stated as she flopped into his arms, she was so tried and all of her hurt. "I should have kept driving!"

"ha-ha very funny, it wasn't my fault, the engine blow up!"

"year right!" Peter laughed down to her as he lifted her up into his arms and walked over to the grass verge running along the side of the road. they sat there for a little while without saying anything until Peters phone bleeped, it was Katherine Rader.

"where are you Pete?"

"sitting by the side if the road thinking of a way to get to your morgue"

"what!"

"we missed the plane so we had to drive, than the car broke so we are sitting by the side of the road thinking of what to do and how much the bill will be for writing off a rental car"

"You broke and crashed an airport rental car!" Raider said down the phone

"Yes" peter muttered. This made Megan laugh. Peter hated admitting that he broke a rental car.

"Where are you?"

"By the junction near Edensor I think"

"You're ages away, how did you get out there! You must have taken a wrong turn, are you both ok, I'll send out an ambulance"

"I'm alright but Megan's hurt if think, looks like her shoulders dislocated, ambulance is a good idea, can you call it in cause I actually have no idea where the hell we are"

"ok, I'll meet you at the hospital and bring you guys over the hotel across from the office when you're all patched up, I'll call it now, see you'll later"

"Great, see you than, by Kate

"bye Pete" after that she hung up. Peter turned towards Megan and moved closer to her, it was starting to get dark and it could take a while for the ambulance to get there, it was going to be a cold night.

"what are you doing?" Megan asked as Peter sat next to her

"Kate's going to call for an ambulance to come and get us than she'll pick us up later when we've been looked at."

"ok, Peter can you get my bag out of the back of the car so I can call Lacey?"

"sure" peter pushed himself off of the floor and limped towards the car. Dr. Hunt's mind drifted to what happened in the car, why couldn't she stop it and why did it swerve just slightly left to miss the post? She knew the crash wasn't her fault but she couldn't help feeling guilty

"here you go Doc" peter said handing Megan her bag and sitting back on the floor,

"thanks... what happened to your leg?"

"think I twisted it a little getting out of the car, it's fine, don't worry" it was getting darker and darker by the second, seen it would be pitch black outside and very cold, they both really hoped they would be somewhere warm soon.

Megan had just hung up after talking with Lacey when a large, neon coloured ambulance pulled up in front of them

"Peter Dunlop and Megan Hunt?" the paramedic asked as he sat a bag next to Megan and pulled out some bandages.

"yeah that's us, thanks for getting here so quickly, we thought we might freeze!"

"what happened?" the paramedic addressed the question to Megan as he began to treat the wound on her head.

"the engine blew and I couldn't get the car to stop, it swerved onto the post, I have no idea how fast it was going after it started skidding but I was only going at 30 before!" she assured the paramedic who nodded and assessed the cuts to her hands and neck.

"you hurt sir?" he asked Peter

"twisted my leg but other than that I don't think so" Megan looked up at peter with concerned eyes and the paramedic moved over to look at peters let. Unhelpfully, peter was wearing skinny jeans so they had to be cut at the knee. When the material was moved it revealed his leg covered in blood with a cut along one side.

"that's one hell of a twist Mr. Dunlop!" the paramedic joked as he pulled out some bandage to tie it up. Once all the wounds were covered we both hobbled into the van and it pulled away towards the nearest hospital leaving the rental car spitting out smoke till the early hours of the morning.

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

**tada! **

**Sorry it's taken me forever to write this chapter, has LOADS of coursework this week! Sorry guys will try to update more oftern! **

**Please comment and subscribe! Thank you**

**Kennie013**

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **


	5. Peter

**Oyo, here is chapter 5, finally something topical to the case in New York XD **

**Kennie013**

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

[Peter] – From Peter's point of view

I wonder what happened! What happened last night? The questions flouted into my mind as I began to wake up. Why does my leg hurt?

"You're a hard one to find!" I opened my eyes to only be blinded by the white light in my hospital room; standing above me was Dr. Megan Hunt. She was sporting concerned eyes and wearing the same clothes as the night before. The memories began to rush back, missing the plane, crashing the car, pulling Megan out of the car and sitting by the side of the freezing road, than seeing my own bloody leg and being rushed to hospital so late at night.

"Why does my leg hurt Megan?" I asked with a broken tired voice

"It got cut when you got out of the car yesterday; you caught it on a piece of metal from the door. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, just tired, are you alright Megan, you look terrible!"

"thanks" she said sarcastically, her face than turned serious " there was another double murder last night, Dr. Rader called me this morning, she's on her way now to get us" I nodded and sat up to face her. As I did this, the white bordered door to the room flew open and a tall, thin lady walked confidently through it. I almost didn't recognise her, she had changed so much! It was Kat Rader!

For the last two days I had been imagining a slightly chubby, ginger haired sweet girl who was always well dressed and as he remembered has a cute little over-bit which would drive me mad as every time she was thinking, she would bite her bottom lip with it. She was pretty than, in a sweet, cute little nerdy girl way. I remember that for the last few months before the end of high school, when we were all getting ready for university and gap years, Kat met a really odd guy who went Princeton, he was clever, don't get me wrong, but he was not like any of the guys she had dated in high school. Kat followed him to Princeton and she did her medical degree whilst he studies physics and mathematics. She was now not the cute girl he remembered. She is beautiful! Her hair was longer, died a light brown colour with small streaks of red, dark brown, ginger, green, purple, black and blue at the top. Only a few strands were differently coloured though so it didn't look like she was one of the girls at middle school with rainbow hair. She had on dark blue ripped jeans and a kakis green top, covered with an orange and red tie dye coat that fell to her knees. A gold stud poked out of her nose and a big green loop covered the side of her lip, a chain fell from the top of her ear to here lob which was joined with two black studs. Despite her different appearance, there was that old glint in her eye that she always had when she was about to make fun of my miss fortune. It was the same look that was there when I broke my arm after falling off my bike, when I came to school with braces or when I got a REALLY bad mark in a test. Both ladies pulled up chairs by the side of the bed, Megan on the left and Kat on the right.

"You'd better get fixed quickly; murder no. 4's stinking out my morgue!"

"Gee, sorry Kat, I was too busy trying to save Megan from a crashed rental car and... hang on, number 4, but it's not a Friday?" I looked at Kat with confusion and the glint in her eye left and gave way to a more serious look which confirmed what I was trying to say. That another two people had been murdered late last night.

"Here's the file" Kat hands the case file over to Megan who looks at it and then at me.

"That's nasty! Any clues as to who it might be?"

"So far, we've found no connection between the victims and there is no D.N.A. on the bodies to lead us anywhere, but I'm still looking encase I missed something.

"Where were they killed?" I finally said trying to feel like part of the conversation between the two scientists.

"At the family home like the others, oh wait, you might know this one, recognize the mum?" Katherine handed me the case file showing a picture of the two victims faces. One was Marie Heldershot!

"Marry hellie?"

"Same one!" Kat looked at me with a slight smile of satisfaction that not even sane morality could hide. Both of us hated Marie! She was the school bully and she always homed in on us, me cause of the braces and Kat just because they could. Katherine hated her a lot more than I did due to how they bullied her. For me it was just calling names, and once I started to hold my own against her and the other 'cool' kids they left me alone, but for Kat, she was truly evil! Once Katherine came into physics crying with a blood arm because Marie cut it a nail file. Katherine had a scar on her neck where she Claude her in a fight after school and she always had bruises after Marie would slap her for speaking.

All the way through high school Marie Heldershot had been the prom queen in waiting. She was the beauty queen, covered head to toe in make-up and fake breasts to make all the guys like her. Once one of her boy friends- Dave Marrow- broke my nose just because I said I didn't fancy her. How could I when she hurt Katherine like that and made nearly half the people in our form hate their life for around 3 years! Her mum had pushed her into beauty pageants from the age of 0 and it made her the cold, glamour puss that I can remember her as. I couldn't say that I was distraught but no-body deserved to be murdered along with their daughter in their own home. However I knew that Katherine was still very bitter about what happened. I could tell from the look in her eyes when she gave me the file. No matter who was on her slab though all three of us knew that this was going to be a hard case to crack. Who would want to kill and mother and daughter who seemed to be almost completely innocent compared to some of the victims we have seen.

I looked up from the case file and looked at Kat who was picking at her nails like she always did when she was waiting, And at Megan who was on her phone, probably answering a text from her daughter Lacey. I than turned my attention back to Katherine, she must have felt me about to talk to her as she looked up at me with a questioning look.

"How long do you two think it would take me to get out of here?" from this question Kat put on her all famous thinking face and looked at Megan to get an idea of the most accurate answer. Megan also looked deep in thought. After a few seconds of quiet contemplation Megan looked up at me,

"Maybe late to-morrow morning, does that sound right?" Megan addressed the question to Kat, who nodded in acceptance, "to-morrow it is than" I nodded to them. As soon as I said this Megan took the case file out of my hand and read it carefully. "Do you want me to come down to the morgue and take a look at the older bodies?" Megan asked Katherine who answered with a nod and began looking in her bag. After a few seconds she pulled out a red key ring sported an old fashioned car key. Great, we get a hospital hire car, dodgier cars and bigger bills.

"I'll be round to see you in the morning, try not to get into too much trouble!" Megan joked as she stood up patting my arm at the same time. When she was fully standing I grabbed her hand making her turn round and face me.

"Come on, not even a feel better hug?" I smiled as she gave me a friendly hug. Just before I pulled away she gripped a little tighter, "thank you, for getting me out of the car, you're my hero!" Megan placed a small kiss on my cheek before she stood up. We both exchanged smiles as she got all of her things together. Katherine than took my hand and gave me a small get better hug.

"Ok, I'm off to go find my mum, if she's still here" Katherine picked up her bag and began to walk away, than the penny dropped, "you're mum... but isn't' she..." I was totally confused, and I knew I looked probably more confused than I was, Kat smiled at me, "I know, I'm confused too." With those two simple sentences she walked out of the door and down the hall. I looked back at Megan whose expression quickly changed from concern to the more than famous girl gossip look, great, Megan was a pro at this, here comes the boredom!

"So you two used to go to school together?"

"Yes"

"And you were... friends?"

"Yes"

"Just friends?" the smile on Megan's face grew bigger and bigger after each question

"And you two never dated?"

"No, we didn't" I was starting to get annoyed at her question "aren't you meant to be leaving Dr. Hunt?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going!"

"See you to-morrow?" I questioned as she turned to leave

"to-morrow" she said sharply as she through her hand over her shoulder to say good-bye.

With both the women gone, the room suddenly felt very quiet, the only thing to interest me were my thoughts. And one thought crept into my mind again and again, _"my hero" "you're my hero" _I smiled at the thought of finally being someone's hero; it was a thought that hardly ever came into my mind. My face began to burn, my cheek to be specific. I lifted my hand over to the side of my left cheek just above my neck; it was hot with beads of sweat forming on my skin. As I thought about what Megan had said the rest of my face began to blush. _"My hero, you're my hero" _

**o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

**What do you think? It's a bit romantic :P well more fluffy than romantic but you get what I mean :D**

**Please comment and subscribe and find me on twitter mintcake2012**

**kennie013**


	6. Number 4

**Heyyyyy, ok, so here comes chapter next :p **

**Thanks for all the comments, they're really helpful, love you guys (in a non-creepy way!) **

**Kennie013**

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

[Number 4] – Megan's point of view

It feels nice to be out of the hospital, they always remind me of the crash! It was a quiet drive; I can't help think about what the day might hold. I was keenly awaiting my proper, professional meeting with Katherine Rader, and I can't say I wasn't worried. She had been a top student all her life and never took one turn out of line. She was the perfect person according to her record, and from what I can tell from what Peter had told me, she was also the person that even though she was smart and bullied everyone secretly wanted to be her! At this point in time I certainly did. She was beautiful, smart, had everything she could ever want. On the plane ride here, while peter was asleep, I read up on Dr. Rader. She had left high school and collage as a valedictorian; she had strived at every class the universities threw at her. How can she think that I can help? Has she only asked us over here to get closer to Peter?

The car fell silent, neither of us wanting to talk, it was probably safer. I let my mind flout back to the hospital when Peter grabbed my wrist, secretly I think we both knew he wanted a little bit more than a good- bye hug. I know that if Katherine wasn't there it would have been. I wonder what he thought about what I said- _"my hero". _Did he pick up what I tried to say? I shouldn't be thinking about this, it will only make the situation more difficult to-morrow.

There were so many things I didn't know, like who that last murder victim was, how did both Peter and Katherine knew who she was. There was obviously a tension in the room when Katherine mentioned the latest victim's name, almost like they were angry; but why?

"This is going to be a good case!" I say to myself as I drive into the New York Medical Examiner's office parking lot. Even though the numbers of cases aren't much different between the cities, the New York MEs office was much bigger than the one I was used to, there were a lot more people to impress and, sadly, a lot more stress to do the job right. I still can't work out why they called Peter and me out from Philadelphia instead of calling in the F.B.I. they may be annoying and reject everything that the local PD and ME say, but they still get the job done.

I stop by the front door of the office. It was a huge building, it was a light brick built building with meant it had been standing for a while however, there was a massive glass panel – the same width as my apartment building- along the front revealing walkways, stare cases and people running around solving tens if not hundreds of cases. In the centre of the panel just above the large revolving doors was a crest, underneath it were three Latin words "scientia, vires, fidem." I began ransacking my brain trying to remember the vocabulary I learned in my high school Latin lessons. Suddenly it popped into my mind, the works meant "knowledge, strength and faith", and these were the same words we learned in medical school. I strolled over to the doors and through the advanced metal detectors and found the closest map and made my way to Dr. Rader's office. The halls to the back of the building were long and winding. The lights were bright until I got to Dr. Rader's office where the lights were dimmed. She must not be back from visiting her mum in hospital yet. I curiously peered over her desk where I saw a not on top of a manila folder addressed to M. Hunt, me!

In the file were the case notes for the latest murder. The victims were Marie and Angelina Heldershot. Attached to the file were two pictures, one was of Angeline and her mother standing on a stage, the younger girl was wearing a long pink dress with a baby pink banner over it, the banner read "princess". Marie was standing next to her holding a large trophy with a shoe on it. On the back of the photograph was the date and place the picture was taken. It read _"July 2010, Paris international beauty princess pageant", _from the picture it was clear that Angelina had won. I noticed something- well a few things- from the picture, the first was how thin the daughter was! She looked like she was edging on a size 0 and her mother couldn't have been far off that either. Angelina looked very pale and weak; both showed that she was suffering from anaemia. The girl had very long dyed black flowing hair and a thin pointy face consistent with many magazine modals. Her mother had short brown hair and a very similar pointy face.

Tired to death of looking at Police ID files I put the file down and began looking around the office. I walk over to the book case adjacent to the desk. I believe that a lot can be determined about a person from the books that they read. The shelves are filled with books about pathological discoveries, science papers and books listing reasons and causes for illnesses and wounds. Kat must be an avid reader to read all of these. I lift up a large book documenting serial killings. It had been opened recently! I turned it to a page that was marked with a pink post-it note. It was marking the start of a chapter dedicated to cases where the killer targeted victims according to their sex, it outlined parent problems and bad marriage/ relationship experiences. This book must be old! It showed only environmental factors that could cause these crimes, neurological and gene science has advanced to give other explanations for motives. The next post-it note stuck out to a passage referring to physical features and back-ground all liked to serial killing cases.

One question always pops into my head during this case. Why are WE here? Why not the FBI? It was all starting to confuse me a little. _VVVVVPPPPVVVPP _Raise Your Glass by P!nk starts to play out of my phone, _who's calling me?_

"Hello"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Peter?"

"Where are you Megan?"

"Dr. Rader's office at the MEs office, why are you calling?"

"I can't find you, don't move, I'll be there in 5"

"You're meant to be in the Hospital Peter!"

"Yeah well I got bored, it was weird not hearing you talking"

"Thanks, I'll meat you at the coffee shop down the road from the office, I need decent coffee!"

"Ok, I'll see you when you get there!"

"Ok, and be careful, PLEASE!"

"I will!", after that he hung up the phone, as if I moved like clockwork. Lock the phone, grab my bag and the case file and close the door with a click.

"You took ages!"

"I came as fast as I could Peter there are lots of stares there!"

"What's that?" He points to the file in my hand with a questioning look on his face.

"It's the case file from the latest murder, Dr. Rader left it on her desk for me. I haven't looked at the primary report yet, I brought it encase you wanted to see it." As soon as the sentence leaves my lips peters hand stretches out to grab the file out of my hand. As he does this w waitress walks over with the coffee's we ordered, a plain back coffee for Peter and a skinny latte for me. Suddenly Peter's eye brows ruffle up as he looks closely at the report. I can't suppress the feeling that is boiling up in my stomach. He is so hot when he looks like that, _ no Megan don't think like that, we are on a case, CONCENTRATE! _

"Have you read the report on the girl?"

"Not yet, I haven't read any of them"

"Look at the tox screen" he hands me the file and then picks up his coffee and stands behind me. _He smells so good! N MEGAN CONCENTRATE! _I look back at the file and notice the levels of everything! Everything in her bold was either high or low, this would make her blood resemble old pea soup –but red- before she died, and it could even be the reason for her death! But why than carve the body? Looking at the report, highlighted on the second page reads that all of her external wounds happened before she died. I now see why they called us.

"I've asked the local PD to canvas the scene and the victim' personal life to find any evidence into who did this!"

"Ok, I really need this now I say referring to my coffee, who the hell and why the hell would anyone do this to two relatively innocent people? Thank God for making coffee!

**o.0 o.0 o.0 o.0 XD XD XD XD **

**Whoop, here you go, please comment!**

**Kennie013**


	7. First steps

**Right, this chapter is going to be a little fluffy :/ please comment!**

**Kennie013**

**0. o 0.o 0.o 0.o XD XD XD XD **

[First steps] Peter's point of view (past tense)

We both walked slowly back to the office in silence. I hadn't told Megan yet, but Katherine had texted me asking for Megan's number cause she couldn't find her. As he could remember, Kat hated it when people were late! Woops, oh well. It wasn't till just before we got to the office when Megan finally spoke, "do you have any idea what's going on here peter?"

"Nope but once the local PD find something we will do, come on Kat'll be waiting for us." I rushed her into the building and she led me through the halls to the office.

"Where have you, Peter? What are you doing here?"

"Got bored, me and Megan just went for a coffee as you weren't back yet"

"You were meant to be resting, driving all the way here and going out for coffee isn't resting!" just as Katherine said that I turned to Megan who nodded to Katherine's comment, damn I'm outnumbered! Suddenly a rumble came down the hall towards the office; we all looked at the door waiting for something to happen. Almost a second later a young dark haired policeman ran into the office without even knocking, in his hand was a file filled with information on the case and hopefully a lead!

"Good morning!" the young detective addressed to us, he then quickly handed the file to Katherine, and he was out of breath from running all the way through the office at top speed to get this file to us. Kat opened her mouth to speak but before notes come out of her lips the detective rushed into explaining what he had brought, "in that file" he pointed to it as if there were thousands of files around him and he wanted to make sure we knew exactly which one he meant, he then turned to me and carried on, "in that file are all of the connecting notes between the first three victims and the last; miss and Mrs. Heldershot. I think this last murder was the push we all needed to get e breakthrough. In May last year the Heldershot daughter and the first victim, Kate burners competed in the Paris international beauty princess pageant. Kate was the first 'princess' to be thrown out of the competition, remember that!" he said to Megan, he then turned to a page in the file which showed a picture of the second daughter standing next to Angelina, the picture was a close up of one taken of all the girls entered in the London Ladies Show 2008, "look Angelina next to Kristen Mann, in this photo taken in 1980 there is Marie Heldershot standing next to Gillian Maison, they both won the St. Petersburg beauty contest, looks like it must run in the family as both their daughters both one the same competition earlier this year! Few, so now we have the connections, who do you think we should be looking for, doc?" the detective finally turned his attention to Katherine who began to think about his question. "Ask family and managers, it would have had to be someone strong with a good aim if that helps. Peter you can go with him and take my report, Megan you can come with me and look at the latest victims, that sound good?" both me and Megan nodded to her question, I walked out of the office with the detective feeling really out of place, when I was about 5 yards away from the office I felt a hand on my back and I spun to see who it was. Right behind me Megan was standing looking like she needed to talk, "hello again" I joked with a big smile, "hello, um, where are we going to meet to-night?"

"Kat's got us rooms so why not I call you when I'm done and we head there and book in, dump our stuff and find somewhere to eat if you're hungry" she smiled back at me showing that she was satisfied with my answer. She than span around, hitting me in the face with the edge of her long hair in the process, and walked the 5 yard back to the office that she had come from. Me and the detective- who's name I later learned was Brick Patterson- took the police car across town to the models and beauty studios to meet with the numerous agents of the younger victims.

"Do you know anyone who would have had a grudge against her or her mother" was a common question, the answers where equally repetitive, "I can't think of anyone that would kill them but you must guess that they had enemies, it's inevitable in this business!" every manager said that to us, all of them! Another dead end! Walking down the road of beauty shops and studios when we walked past a family photo album shop and something caught my eye. On the wall in the formal looking foyer- which could be seen through the window- was a long rectangular print of 8 young girls if about the age of 14. They were wearing vintage style dresses and had their hair pinned back in bobs and pony tails, it looked like a scene out of grease, the tallest and thinnest of the girls reminded me of someone, and I couldn't tell who it was until I saw her eyes. They were dark and cold! Full of the sparkle that I remembered as the closest thing to evil. It was Marie Heldershot! "Detective look at this!" I called at him and motioned him to look through the window. "What am I looking at?" he asked sounding very tired and bored, "it's Marie Heldershot, the mum, there in the middle of the picture in the black dress, it is her when she was younger!" I looked up at Patterson who had begun to walk into the studio. We walked straight to the front of the line, Patterson flashed his badge at the receptionist who-without saying a word- ran out to the main studio.

"I really hope the old manager is still here!" as soon as the words flew into the open the receptionist walked sheepishly back to her desk followed by an old man who had a large badge on his chest stating that he was the manager. He was tall and thin with muscular arms but he had a tired, wrinkly face with a long gray beard and short gray/ white hair on his head. He had on a mud brown suit with a green tie on, he looked very odd to say the least.

"How can I help you gentlemen?" the man said extending a shaky fragile hand as a greeting. When he saw the look on both out faces he drew it away and his friendly face turned deathly serious. "We need to talk to you about the picture over there, who are the girls?" the man took a closer look at the badge and turned to his receptionist, "I'll be in my office, please don't interrupt me!"

"Yes sir"

"Lets go somewhere where we can talk." The men slowly turned around and lead us into a large modern looking office and offered us both seats in front of a large white desk. As soon as he sat down he began to speak. "I heard about the girls, such a terrible thing. That picture was taken a long time ago but I will go and dig out the forms for it. I'll be right back". The manager walked out of the office, which fell silent. After about a minute he walked back and placed himself in his seat. "Ok from left to right we have" he began pushing a smaller copy of the picture across the desk to us, " Millie Jones, Sara Gresse, Gillian Maison, Marie Heldershot, Hannah Burners, Bella Mann and May-Flower-Rose reeves. They were all big beauty pageant winners at the time so their managers clubbed together go get them a photo shoot, all together, to boot PR for the big U.S. princess finals"

"Did all of their managers like the idea"

"I believe so they all shared the cost for the service so I would think so. Mind you those girls were horrible to each other, especially that Marie Heldershot, she was a horrible girl, and I can't say her murder was unexpected"

"Not unexpected, what do you mean?"

"well she would bully the other girls, she got into lots of fights with the local kids, and the ones from back home, she would hit and scratch the other girls, she even got me once or twice" the man carefully pulled up his jacket sleeve to reveal deep claw marks at the top of his forearm. They mirrored the ones on Katherine's chest and back. "She was a horrible girls but she was beautiful, even as she got older. She would win all of the shows and if it looked like she wouldn't she would shatter the other competition to get her way. I am so glad her daughter is... was nicer than she was."

"Wait, you knew her daughter Angelina!"

"Yeah, they came in for bride's maid dress shoot a couple of days ago, three girls, um... their names... eeerrr... oh yeah, there was Angelina, and then Sara's daughter Mari Gresse and a younger girl called Lucille Edwords."

"Can we have the other girls contact details, all the ones from first picture and this one please"

"Even the murdered girl's ones?"

"Yes please"

"Alright, I'll be back in a minute!" the manager walked outside. "We are going to have to make a lot of calls to-morrow!" I jokes, Patterson smiled and pulled out his new looking Iphone. "Dr. Rader texted saying that she has done with the bodies for today"

"Ok, I think we should call the families of all these girls to-night and visit them to-morrow, you got the time?"

"6 nearly, this case is gonna get confusing if anymore names come up, do you think there are going to be many more victims Dunlop?" it had been a long time since someone called me _Dunlop. _After I quit the force I had always been called Peter, the new nickname brought back good memories. I looked at the young detective and I could see an ounce of fear in his face, he was obviously new to priority homicide. I could sense that he had never had to lead cases like this, I remember my first serial homicide, it set me in a bad mood for months afterwards, and I was so determined to catch the killer that I let the case get to me. I didn't sleep for weeks, I ended up getting myself worked up over the smallest detail making the case take up a lot more time than it needed to.

"I don't know Patterson, I seriously hope not!" the room than fell silent with the sound of thinking.

Soon later the manager came back into the room with a few envelopes and files of details. "These are all the files and contacts for all the work involving the murder victims and the other girls from the shoots." He handed them over to Patterson, as soon as the detective moved the papers out of the managers hand he said quickly, with an obvious concern, "I really hope you catch this guy, these where great girls, none of them deserved to die this way... not even Marie Heldershot.

The manager left us to make our way out of the studio. We began walking back to the squad car still making the unmistakable thinking sound. My mind was buzzing with possible leads that could be out there, we had to solve this case quickly so that no-one else would have to die.

2 hours later, we had called all the contact numbers we could find and had checked addresses for all the people concerned and any other names that came up. I had just finished running the names through the databases when Megan pulled my chair out of the desk I was using so I was sitting right in front of her. Both her palms were leaning on my forearms and she was looming over me. "Mr. Peter Dunlop I have been sat that little coffee shop for 3 hours. 3 hours! I am bored and tired and really hungry! Please stop working for the night!"

"Well, "I have just finished!" I pushed my arms up making her stand up straight, at the same time I stood up and kicked the chair under the desk, I was than standing right in front of Megan who was looking at me with an annoyed face. "What?" Megan asked in an irritated voice, "Nothing, you're just cute when you're angry" I smiled at her and then stood back and picked up my coat. When I looked back at her I met her eyes and her face broke into a small smile. "Lets go!" I said looping my arm through hers and taking her coat and threw it over my arm with my own. We both walked out of the police department and found the rental car that we were supplied with. Megan took the coats off of me and we both slumped into the chairs and drove to the address that Katherine had given me.

After about 5 minutes I pulled the car into a large car park behind a tall hotel. I picked up our stuff and we walked quietly to the check-in desk. On the top of the desk was a note saying _"if checking-in/ checking- out after 8pm please ring the bell, thank you" _we both looked at each other thinking the exact same thing. At the same time we both turned and searched for the bell, sadly it was nearer to Megan and by the time I had managed to reach over to the button she had already slammed her hand down on it a bit harder than was necessary. I looked up at her with a face annoyed face which was met by her cheesy, childish, 'haha I beat you' face. Her face was adorable, I think Megan must have noticed me looking at her deeply as she turned away quickly and her cheeks coloured a little. Wow I never thought I would see Dr. Hunt blush!

"Can I help you?" a voice kicked me out of my thoughts, it was a pretty receptionist. "We have booked two rooms under the names Dunlop and Hunt" I said politely to her hoping to get a quick answer. "Oh I'm sorry there is only one room under that name"

"What?"

"What?" me and Megan both said.

"Sorry there is only one room, a family room under the names Dunlop and Hunt. Just so you know it is a large room with two separate bedrooms in it so it's like having two rooms" the receptionist added the last sentence with a smile and looked at Megan with re-assuring eyes. I looked at my partner and she shrugged. "Ok, can I have the key please?"

"Sure, it's on the second floor to the left." She handed over the keys and smiled at us both.

"Thank you" we both said at the same time

"Please enjoy you're stay, if you need anything call room service on line 1".

I picked up the bags and headed for the elevator. "Elevator, are you being lazy, here, give me my stuff and we can take the stares", why did she have to be such a health freak! It was too late to argue with her so we – sadly- look the stares.

The room was huge, with modern white and black furniture. There was a big sofa in the middle of the room behind a glass coffee table. I took my case and threw it into the room on the left. That was one heavy case. Megan did the same with the room on the right. She had thrown herself onto the bed and had closed her eyes, it had been a long day! I walked into her room and saw her lying on the bed with her feet hanging off the edge. Her jacket was on the floor and she pulled the edge of the covers over her face. I decided to take the plunge, well one of them anyway. I walked over to her feel and gently pulled off her boots and stood them up at the foot of the bed. I than lied down next to her, it felt so good not being in an office chair! I rolled over to look at Megan, I couldn't help it. I pulled a strand of hair off of her face and took my face towards her ear and whispered, "Wine", without opening her eyes she smiled and said, "God yes!". With that I stood up and made my way to the small kitchen at the back of the room. I opened a bottle of red wine and pulled two glasses out of the cupboard above my head. From behind me I could hear Megan sit down on the sofa. I joined her after pouring there wine. "Thank you I so needed this!" I smiled at her and we both took large gulps of the red liquid letting it sooth us. We sat in silence for a little while letting the wine go down and categorise the thousands of events from the day. Suddenly Megan spoke, "can I ask a question?"

"Of course you can!" I shuffled in my seat to face her and she did the same.

"Who's Marie Heldershot?"

"She was the school bully when I was in high school."

"Oh, she wasn't horrible to you was she?" Megan's voice was full of concern, I was really hoping she wouldn't ask this question. I had to tell her sometime about it though.

"She would get the jocks to beat me up all the time, she would torment me and my sisters, and she would get them into all sorts of fights. She basically made high school a living hell for me and even worse for Katherine."

"Oh peter!" Megan leaned forward and hugged me, she smelled so good, I was actually glad we had this talk. "Megan, just whatever you do, don't talk to Kat about it!"

"I won't, I promise!"

"Thank you, now, what about you, what was your high school like?"

"It was ok actually, cause my mum was in politics and I grew up in the city, no-body ever bullied me too bad apart from the cheer leaders, but they were just jokes and roomers so it wasn't too bad I don't think." I smiled at her, she was so lucky, well for some things. We sat in silence for a while, it took about 5 minutes for me to realize that I had my arm around her. By the time I realized she was asleep and I was too tired to move. I leaned over her and pulled her legs into the sofa and then lifted mine up to get into a more comfortable position without waking her. That was where we both stayed until the next morning.

**0.o 0.o 0.o 0.o XD XD XD XD **

**Ok super fluffy at the end I know but the rest was epic too :D**

**Please comment and subscribe and find me on twitter mintcake2012-02-05**

**Lots of love and hugs! XD**

**Kennie013 **


End file.
